"I take great pleasure in continuing your appointment as President," Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus wrote to Dan Oliver on Aug. 21, 2011. Mabus commended Oliver for his leadership and getting the school reaccredited for another decade.

Oliver was removed from his position in November after a report from the Naval Inspector General accused the Monterey school of not adhering to Navy and federal rules. The second in command, Leonard Ferrari, was removed from his provost position and placed on administrative leave.

According to other records provided, Oliver's appointment was supposed to last until 2016 and Ferrari's until 2014.

The Navy said it couldn't find a so-called letter of continuation for Ferrari after a "thorough review" of his personnel file.

The office provided Oliver and Ferrari's employment forms but blacked out much of the information.

The written response from Navy counsel Donald J. Names said the information wasn't included because it must be of public benefit.

"Such public benefit has neither been asserted nor demonstrated here," he wrote.

Removed information included salaries, retirement plans and life insurance.

Names said to contact a Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, office in Indianapolis for salaries. The Herald contacted the office in early January but hasn't received a response.

Also Thursday, the NPS Judge Advocate's Office asked The Herald to resubmit a FOIA request for information related to outside-funded research because the newspaper did not indicate a willingness to pay for it.

NPS had a fiscal year 2011 budget of $630.5 million, according to its 2012 Fact Book. The school reported raising $214 million in research grant funding last year, with the rest of the overall budget coming from taxpayers.

The report that led to the NPS leaders' dismissal said there was risk in pursuing reimbursable funding, adding that it is unclear whether NPS has the authority to seek private-sector funding.